Cindy unmasked

A DNA fingerprint has helped to restore the reputation of German beef. Genetic analysis has shown that Cindy, which up to now was thought to be the first cow born in Germany to develop BSE (In Brief, 1 February, p 11), is in fact Scottish Queen, a cow imported from Britain.

Bertram Brenig of the University of Göttingen, who conducted the tests, says it soon became clear that Cindy's birth records were false. Her mitochondrial DNA did not match samples from three cows which, according to the records, were supposed to share the same mother.

Scottish Queen "vanished" years ago. But Brenig and his colleagues tracked down one of her offspring, a cow called Queenie, in Scotland. A genetic comparison showed that Queenie is almost certainly Cindy's daughter.

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